At its meeting Nov. 18, in Pierre, the South Dakota Board of Education heard proposed changes to South Dakota’s accountability system. A summary of the key changes is below. Click here to watch a video. The proposal will be put out for public comment this winter, prior to the state applying for an extension of its ESEA Flexibility Waiver for an additional year.

• Take the indicator for Teacher/Principal Effectiveness out of the School Performance Index, or SPI
- While aggregate data surrounding effectiveness would still be reported, schools would not receive SPI points for this item.

• Take the indicator for School Climate out of the SPI
- Embed “climate” into work with Priority Schools

• Create a special audit process for schools with unique mission

• Use three years of data for the Student Achievement indicator

• Reconsider how Attendance indicator is calculated

• Make the NCRC/WorkKeys assessment optional for districts to administer to 11th or 12th graders
- For districts that choose to administer, up to ten points of the College and Career Readiness indicator would come from NCRC/WorkKeys.

The board also adopted a rule change to SDAR 24:05:33:07.03.Cooperative educational service unit costs. The change allows a school district to pay certain costs incurred by a co-op, as a result of providing special education or special education and related services, from state and local dollars deposited into the district’s special education fund.